Spilling secrets: Elder to tell Huckabee story of his father

Columnist on tap to discuss stunning 'Dear Father, Dear Son'

Best-selling New York Times author, radio host and syndicated columnist Larry Elder will appear on Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Fox News show “Huckabee” tomorrow night to discuss his newest book, “Dear Father, Dear Son.”

The interview will also be broadcast on the Sunday evening edition of “Huckabee.”

The show airs at 8 p.m. Eastern both Saturday and Sunday on the Fox News Channel.

Elder will also appear next week on the “Tavis Smiley Show” on PBS on a date to be determined.

On Monday, Elder will be a guest on the nationally syndicated Geraldo Rivera radio program at 11:20 a.m. Eastern. Then on Wednesday, Elder be on the “Jesse Lee Peterson Show” at 11:05 a.m. Eastern to talk about a book he has called “a 247-page apology to his Marine father that he didn’t understand until he was 25 years old.”

“Stunning … a wonderful read … a page-turner … a handbook for life,” was the description of Elder’s book by another celebrated author.

Burt Boyar, co-author of the best-selling autobiography of Sammy Davis Jr., says of “Dear Father, Dear Son”: “Above all it is a wonderful read. I am tempted to call it a page-turner, but in my case I hated to turn every page because that meant I was getting closer to the end and I did not want it to end. … The book is filled with emotion. It is, of course, a handbook for life. I guess it is that above all things. Any kid who reads it and follows the advice of how to live his life just has to come out well.”

Published by WND Books, “Dear Father, Dear Son” is a personal memoir of Elder’s troubled relationship with his father and the astonishing outcome when Elder, at long last, confronts him.

Says Elder: “A man’s relationship with his father – every boy, every man lucky enough to have a father in his life has to figure that out. My own father? I thought I knew him – even though he seldom talked about himself. And what I knew I hated – really, really hated. Cold, ill-tempered, thin-skinned, my father always seemed on the brink of erupting. Scared to death of him, I kept telling myself to find the courage to ‘stand up to him.’ When I was fifteen, I did.” After that, said Elder, “We did not speak to each other for 10 years.

“And then we did – for eight hours.”

As reflected in the book’s subtitle – “Two Lives … Eight Hours” – one extraordinary, all-day conversation between Elder and his long-estranged father utterly transformed their relationship.

“Dear Father, Dear Son” is the story of one man discovering a son he never really knew. And of the son finding a man, a friend, a father who had really been there all along.

Elder, a “firebrand libertarian” according to “Daily Variety,” has been the subject of profiles by both CBS’ “60 Minutes” and ABC’s “20/20.” His previous best-selling books – “The 10 Things You Can’t Say in America,” “Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies and the Special Interests That Divide America” and “What’s Race Got to Do with It? Why it’s Time to Stop the Stupidest Argument in America” – all have been met with critical acclaim.